Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efficiency measure endorsed

Baton Rouge -- New Orleans area parishes and others hit hard by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should be able continue to use an expedited process to award public works contracts, according to a bill approved Wednesday by a Louisiana Senate committee.

State Sen. Ed Murray

The Senate Committee on Transportation, Highways and Public Works unanimously voted for Senate Bill 126 by Sen. Edwin Murray, D-New Orleans, that would allow Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes to use the "design-build" process to award construction contracts.

A public body can use design-build to award an architect and engineering contract in a shorter period of time. Murray said his bill extends the authorization for the process one more year, through July 10, 2013.

Murray said that one major project on the drawing board in New Orleans that could use the design-build method is a proposed hospital for eastern New Orleans. Murray said New Orleans officials have used the law to speed construction of libraries and other projects that had to be rebuilt or renovated after the 2005 hurricanes.

The law also covers construction or repairs of damaged or destroyed public facilities overseen by housing authorities, sheriffs, the Recovery School District, the Port of New Orleans and governmental entities in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes.

"This has been a good way for the city to get projects done," Murray said. Lobbyists for architectural and engineering agencies said the program, which has been in place since 2007, should be allowed to expire in July.

"It has been seven years now" since the hurricanes, said Duane Cowart, a lobbyist for the Louisiana engineering industry. "This is no small thing."

The panel also approved Senate Bill 546 by Sen. Barrow Peacock, R-Shreveport, to allow out-of-state exhibitors to participate and offer for sale or display "recreational products at recreational product shows and trade show exhibitions."

Peacock said that without the bill, the Bassmasters Classic, a popular fishing tournament recently held in Shreveport, would not return to the state because some sports vendors would be excluded from exhibiting their products.

"We are a tourist destination," Peacock said. "We don't want Bassmasters not to come back to New Orleans (where it was held a few years ago) or Shreveport."

The bill was amended by Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, to also allow nonresident exhibitors to show their wares at fairs and festivals as well as at trade shows. The bill now goes to the Senate floor.